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tv   John King USA  CNN  May 30, 2011 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT

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smoke. in the end, it's going to come down to public pressure. >> i'm not going to enforce it. i'll just walk away. >> reporter: smokers face an additional $50 fine. >> i was just told, as i lit my cigarette, that i'm not allowed to go in the park anywhere. >> reporter: nonsmokers look forward to at least one particular pain in the butt. >> we're in the park and i see cigarette butts. >> if you start smoking, everybody is going to be fat and on a twinkie patrol. come on. let us live. john king, usa, starts right now. >> thanks, candy. good evening tonight from one of america's historic treasurers. the gettysburg national military park. a fitting place to spend this
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memorial day. on this national holiday, a heavy rush of politics. sarah palin's mystery tour rolled into town. we don't know when she will appear because her aides will not tell us. her stops included ft. mchenry and she's being cagey on the subject of whether it's a rolling civic lesson or a 2012 campaign. >> i believe there are many more people out there to add. competition breeds success. i would hope that there is going to be debate. >> also this day, president obama leads the traditional wreath laying at arlington national cemetery and announces a major change in his national security team. with america fighting three wars, we'll explain whether the new war council signals a new approach. >> i'm announcing my choice for the successors today because it transition must be seamless and we stay focused on the security
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challenges before us. >> but, first up, like it or not, she's back. sarah palin is on a bus tour that mixes landmarks of america's past and battlegrounds of her political presence. new hampshire and iowa, for example, and on this day george washington's mt. vern joon and turning point of the civil war. some of you are rolling your ice. i've been getting tweets all day. there is no question that governor palin is a master of media manipulation. but spend a little time in this little town and you'll get a taste of the palin factor. families waiting for hours, some of them eight or nine hours, 100-degree heat here to get a glimpse at the biggest remaining wild card in the 2012 presidential race. >> i think she is gives a perspective that is for most average americans. i don't think that she seems to have lost touch with what most people are concerned about right
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now. i think some of the candidates are not able to connect as well as she can. >> i like her. i would just like to see her. i have a lot of respect for her. i have a lot of respect for her christian values and her convictions. she seems like a family person. >> now, governor palin likes to call us the lame stream media and her organization refuses to give us a schedule of her planned route or stops. it makes it a little fun, or frustrating to cover her. i call it fun. she did allow a fox news crew to follow her. has she privately assured fox that she is not running and that this is about self-promotion or does the network have a different standard that it had in place for newt gingrich or mike huckabee. let's dissect her motives.
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eric ericson and susan and john. congresswoman, to you first, is she running or is she just trying to help her image? >> well, who really knows what goes on in the mind of governor palin? if she did s not running, she's really putting together a brilliant strategy for reminding everyone of a very critical time that she is extremely relevant. you showed pictures of people standing out in the heat and that she's the one person that connects. i would say i don't think she's running but tomorrow she may prove me wrong. what she is doing is running to be one of the most influential republicans in these united states and what that means is whoever is the republican nominee or all of those people running for the nomination will be wanting her attention and her
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endorsement. >> so john, i'm surrounded by families here. some of them have been here for eight or nine hours. you know this state well. you advised rick santorum who is exploring a republican presidential candidacy and is most likely to run. what is the palin factor? how much does somebody like governor santorum, governor pawlenty, how much are they overshadowed and are they overshadowed by palin the noncandidate? >> it's how much oxygen can she pull out of a room. you have to remember that the presidential race starts in places like iowa, new hampshire, south carolina where people don't want to feel like it's barnum and bailey's promotions coming to town. they can kick the tires and feel genuine. i agree with susan. if she is doing to this to look
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back with pause and feel that this was just a little too planned and a little bit too sterile in some sense. >> it's a great point john makes. because while we were here today, the county republican official came by and said, i have no idea. they haven't called and told me. you might hear families chanting around me saying, run, sarah run. do the rules apply to her? can these people power her candidacy? she doesn't have to tell the new hampshire chairman when she's coming or the iowa chairman when she's coming? >> i think the rules do apply and i believe if she decides to run i guess you could say the campaign rules. i think the rumor mill between republicans can undo sarah palin over time when you have bitter, angry parties who feel like they
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make money off the campaign season. is she there to help herself or the republicans? i would say that i think it's interesting on the issue of fox news, considering the news of all of the pressure on the other republicans, including mike huckabee, that we haven't seen this about sarah palin suggests to me that she may not be running. >> i have to take that -- greta is a friend of mine. she gets an interview with governor palin. we can't even get the schedule. that's her choice. she can make that choice from now until the end of time. she can campaign how ever she wants and we have to deal with it. i remember covering ross perot in 1992. it's not their job to help us. but to the question of fox news, congressman, i assume she's told them that they are not running because i don't believe they would allow a double standard like. this don't you agree? >> it's hard to say. she's obviously a big draw.
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she's extremely popular. it's quite an exclusive to be able to follow her on this mystery tour, know where she's going, and to be able to get the interviews and sound bites that she is providing them in terms of change and all of those things that really are news leading up to her announcement. >> all right. as we continue our conversation, we're told by our political producer that governor palin -- and i don't want to excite the people around here -- that she's left her hotel and that she's on the move. we think she's going to buy running sox for piper in her tour bus. john, i want to ask you about just the timing and a political sensitivity issue. she was clearly well received on the national mall. she's been well received everywhere that she has gone. but there have been some people who have complained about using memorial day, for example, a day where we honor the fallen, the
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legislative director for rolling thunder, said i'm very not appreciative of the way that she came in here. she wanted to come on the ride, she should have come on the back. she rode out on the front. how careful does she need to be during these very important days? >> i think she needs to be careful but i want to be careful not to hit her with this. if she's promoting america and what america needs to be, she needs to depict national holidays like that and it's an important factor. if all of a sudden people see her as candidate palin and see her missing the fox greenville debate, see her not showing up for the upcoming cnn political debate in new hampshire, those types of things and instead just showing up for events that look liar they are pr events, then i think she has a problem. >> i want ya'll to listen to her here. during the trip to ft. mchenry, star spangled banner.
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she said that she's certain that the republican field will get bigger. >> you know, it's a continued process of contemplating what it is that we have in front of us as a family and what the build looks like and it's going to be a changed up build between now and when deadlines finally arrive for declaring. we hear rumors that governor perry perhaps is thinking about running. >> eric, she went on to say that she thinks the better the competition, the better the debate, the more healthy the competition. she said that she's contemplating it and that she on her own brought up governor perry of texas. >> he's changed his tune in the last few weeks to definitely not to i'm thinking about it. we'll see. by and large, i'm of the opinion that we may have a few wild cards get in. perry and palin are the only two that could be consequential should they get in.
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but i'm still not convinced that sarah palin is not going to get in. i think she's angling to be a king maker here. if she does get in, she will probably be the king maker in that process as well. but the fascination of sarah palin is what fascinates me, that had anybody else done something like this, there wouldn't be media coverage of that. >> i agree 100% and, again, we're getting criticized for being here because she's not a declared candidate. as you criticize those of us trying to cover her, i would ask you to look around and i mean this with no disrespect. i do not believe that if people thought they were passing through town, didn't know exactly where they were going to come, that they would be out here in these conditions like this. >> right. there's no way they would. >> run, sarah run. so john, someone who has run a number of campaigns and likely to be involved in this next one, what does she bring or would she bring to the field that it lacks? would she just be somebody that she ran as a vice presidential
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nominee among republican voters or is there something from an issues perspective or message perspective that she has that no one else does? >> i think there's an excitement in the way that she carries herself and the fact that she's a woman and it's great for the republican party in which she brings along. however, if you go back to the republican debate, if you remember, she did one debate and this time she'll have to do 15 debates. people will have a much better understanding and not necessarily that she did in alaska but what does she plan for this country and what issues is she going to concentrate on and what issues does she have? at this point she's the best of all worlds. she doesn't have to answer tough questions yet and that can change things drastically. >> congresswoman, as someone who has been through a number of elections, if we look at the last campaign and we know she's popular in small, rural towns where people tend to be more conservative, if you go into this state, if you just go to east of the philadelphia
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suburbs, independents and moderate republicans, like where you were elected from, that's where you see negatives in her standing. what would she have to do? what should she be doing if she wants to repair her image with those people, where she has a bit of -- what should she be doing? >> she's pretty popular in statin island and certain areas of new york. part of the appeal when you ask what does she bring to this race? people feel that she understands their concerns. what she needs to do is continue to get deeper into the articulation of those concerns but the one thing that she really needs to do is to then propose workable solutions, were she to be president of the united states. she's connected on feeling the pain. what can she do to alleviate that pain as president of the united states from statutory legislative or regulatory standpoint. >> we're going to ask susan, eric, and john to stand by.
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ahead, we'll compare governor palin's message with two other gop contenders. >> it was about defending and protecting, liberty then. it's about defending and protecting liberty today. let us never forget that. live free or die. and next, a democratic indumb bent by the numbers. he has clear when it comes to job and what you pay at the pump. [ male announcer ] breathe, socket. just breathe. we know it's intimidating. instant torque. top speed of 100 miles an hour. that's one serious machine. but you can do this. any socket can. the volt only needs about a buck fifty
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terrorism. strong stuff but also just the kind of numbers that could give an incumbent president an erie sense of de ja vu. for more on that, let's dig deeper with david gergen. i want to get to the numbers. governor palin is here and we're told that she's somewhere in town. there are dozens of people waiting to see her. i want to get your sense. is this as many palin critics have been saying, is the media being foolish or is there something about her that will have an impact and we will know whether or not she is in. >> i think it's something about her. she still has a sizzle where a lot of the other candidates don't. she's a celebrity. but there's a difference between ak celebrity and being a political leader. whether she can make that
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transformation back or not, we shall see. in the meantime, this woman, for all of her sort of real questions about her policies, she has a knack, almost for attracting attention and stirring people up. a lot of people like her. she is friendly. >> let's look now at the democratic incumbent. and the president's numbers, i want to show our viewers how the president rates. terrorism, 65%. afghanistan, 65% approved. iraq, 54%. taxes, 46. then you start going down. david, on the foreign policy commander in chief questions, the president's numbers are quite good. i want to show you a comparison just on the economy. just on the economy. this president right now, president obama, 41% of americans approve of his handling of the economy. at this point in his presidency, the last president to serve one term and be defeated was george h.w. bush. he was at 39%. for all of the good numbers of
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overall job approval, if you're president obama, you have to look at that economy number and think that i am nowhere near out of the woods. >> well, he's not out of the woods but i do think you've got to say, capturing and killing bin laden made a huge difference to people's perspective on who he is. it will for a long time change the perception of who he is and make him seem strong, decisive, and that's going to help him in all sorts of ways. what we saw from george w. bush, he went way up with the foreign policy victory, kicking saddam hussein out of kuwait and he fell 60% in 18 months. why was that? because of the economy. so ultimately, this is going to come down to the economy and whether in fact republicans came up with a candidate who has some of the kind of excitement that
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sarah palin has, that brings the substantive that voters want ultimately. >> let's talk about that. both the president's challenge and the republican challenge when it comes to that, because we can judge it on how people view the president's handling of the economy or a very good historical marker to look at. especially when you have an incumbent being the mayor or president of the united states it's the country. how are things going in the country today? 39% say that they are going well and 60% say that they are going badly. if you go back to this time in 1991, the last incumbent president to lose the re-election bid, 53% said that the country was going well, things were going well. so george h.w. bush had a much better right track, wrong track than president obama does but can he change the narrative about that and do you see anyone in the republican side making a powerful economic case?
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>> i don't know whether president obama can change that or not. the economy, there are all sorts of signs of the economy slowing again. fragile recovery, no serious expectation among economists that unemployment will get a below 8% by the time of the election next year. we're likely to be in a heavy slog. whether the voters will forgive president obama and say that it's not his fault, i think only time will tell but i see no indications that he's going to get a lift on the economic front. but that still doesn't mean that the democrats came up with a candidate and turned out to be a very, very effective candidate so far, none of the republicans in the field has struck most voters at being another bill clinton. someone who wins a couple of primaries, you know, we put on the republican side, they may be able to change the perception. but right now this sarah palin bus tour and the fact that we are all talking about it, and
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not talking about what tim pawlenty had to say this weekend, not talking about what mitt romney had to say this weekend, i think it underscores in our mind that they are not as interesting copy as we say in the news business. they just don't have that kind of pull that magnetic pull that brings them to end and people want to hear what they have to say. they have to step up their game on that front. >> david gergen, live for us. still ahead here, another big shakeup in the president's national security team. does it mean a faster exit or stay the course in afghanistan? and next sarah palin says that she is certain that there will be in entries into the republican race. how does her pitch compare to other republican hopefuls out on the trail today. blah? [ male announcer ] look at this,
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we're live tonight from the gettysburg national military park. there's always a crowd here for the memorial day parade, a reflection. and today the town buzzing with word that sarah palin is here. >> are you trying to find her?
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>> i'm trying to find her, definitely. our daughters are over there and we're looking over here. we need to find her. >> how long have you been here? >> the whole weekend. >> she did arrive here this evening, staying at a local hotel. she did a little shopping. we know that she's planning to visit the historic sites during her visit, whether it's tonight or in the morning, we're not sure. is this a campaign trip? she says no. if she does, it's clear, she will try to. >> americans and how much we
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appreciate the foundation and to invite more people to be interested in all that is good about america. and to remind ourselves we don't need to fundamentally start right here. >> two other republican contenders likely to feel the squeeze. the former minnesota governor was in iowa. >> we're in a competition for the future direction of this country. what it values, why it values it, and how the role of govern in the plays out in people's lives and each time the government pushes into an area and takes over one more piece of turf or responsibility that was previously reserved for families or that was previously reserved for neighborhoods or that was previously the responsibility of community or places of worship or charity or philanthropy or push into areas that were
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previously the province of entrepreneurs or business or private markets and they say, you know what? we're taking over that space now or they say we're going to make it more difficult for to you do it or more expensive or they say it's going to take longer or it's going to cost you more or the future is going to be uncertain because of regulation. every time they push in and take over one more chunk of what was the nongovernmental space in our country, they not only grow budgets or their footprint, they do something else that i think is equally corrosive to our country. they lay down and discourage the american spirit. >> that's governor paul lwlenty. michel michel michele bachmann was in new hampshire. >> we review our commitment this day and republish in our hearts those words of the declaration of independence, those words of the constitution of the united
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states. those words of the bill of rights, of the northwest ordinance, of those organic documents that fulfill the dreams of the founders, to give us liberty, something that no other people on the face of the earth in modern times or in 5,000 years of recorded human history have ever lived to feel the privilege of what we have been given. >> let's talk more with susan and eric and john. i remember back in 1991 people thought the democratic field was horrible, they would never beat george h.w. bush, why won't cuomo won, and that's one of the reasons why you hear people here saying we want governor palin to run. you're plugged in with the republican, with people who do campaigns. are republicans down on this
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field? is there anybody out there that can beat president obama? >> first of all, i have to say that it's gratifying for me to see two republican females shaking up the race for the presidency. so i just have to say that. i think that there is this concepts with the republicans that see that the president could be very vulnerable, relative to your discussion with david gergen, that the economy continues to move, inflation continues to grow, gas prices don't get under control, that this is an opportunity that we didn't see several years ago in terms of stopping president obama from being there for eight years. i think there is that frustration that he is so beatable. it's very typical for the republican candidate to fall behind the front-runner. this is a different year but this is, look, all of these races mean you have to get in this race and it's not the excitement that you generate today, but the staying power, the ability to have the organization, the ability to
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have john king continue to want to follow you, you know, a year from now and that's going to be the big difference and that's when you're going to see the people co-lessing around a candidate and this is not unusual. back in 2007, i took a trip with former governor mark war ner. he's a pro business democrat and a credible candidate for president but went up to new hampshire and he with john edwards and hillary clinton and barack obama, there was no oxygen, that maybe he could raise enough money and maybe he co-sign up people but not keep up with them. who gets hurt if governor palin gets in? does your friend take away oxygen away from him? is it governor pawlenty or
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michele bachmann? >> in places like iowa and places like that, rick santorum, well known among the pro life community as well as the tea party community. same thing with people that divide the boat. >> eric ericson, i was up there with governor huntsman, former governor of utah. some say he was president obama's ambassador to china. others say that in this field, if he can somehow come close up to setting him, who knows what happens? do you think that's possible? >> i'm not a jon huntsman fan. he can definitely scoot up the middle the way that the field is divided. i think if sarah palin or rick perry were to get into the race,
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you would have newt gingrich and everyone else on the other side and it becoming a palin versus romney battle. but interestingly enough, i guess it was the psychological build up to the mitch daniels campaign that ultimately didn't happen where all of a sudden the last week or two, i'm hearing a lot of republicans say, you know what, x isn't that bad. people coming to tim pawlenty, they are tired of speculating. they are ready to get on with it. and we are watching for governor palin to shake up this race. she would be at the top of the polls. who else? is there somebody else that you're going to say, i'm going to watch this person and they will make a decision and surprise us? >> i'm going to keep saying
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governor christie, no matter how many times he denies that the republicans are going to -- i think obviously governor perry we're going to watch but i don't think he's going to. he's lining himself up to be vice president or a candidate for 2016. let's speculate so that i can be in the line-up for the next time around. governor huntsman clearly, i met with him. i think he's extremely credible and mayor giuliani is somebody out there who has said that he has not said no at this point and he's another person who may be able to run up the middle. >> he has not said no, mayor giuliani. when i was up in new hampshire a couple weeks ago, a lot of people are convinced that he's going to run. there are other fund-raisers, people who say that they have been called by the associates and made crystal clear they are not going to do it that way. they think it was all wasted. is he flirting or is he a serious prospect? >> for public disclosure, i was part of the team giuliani last time. the problem is that he was doing well in the national polls but
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could not figure out in a state where he could do well early on. he did poorly in south carolina and it's the same line up so i think he has the same hurdles, as a very moderate for a republican this time around. to be honest with you, i think the story getting lost is going back to the polling numbers that you showed on the president. you know, he's doing well among personality and doing poor among performance. and so what that means is trouble. he could do well and go on and be on dancing with the stars and come in second like kirstie alley but as you get closer to the election, people are going to look at performance and i've been reading polls for 25 years. i think all of these candidates are credible because i think the president has serious problems. >> everybody stand by, we just mentioned that governor palin went out to do shopping. we caught her as she was leaving her hotel and among the questions she was asked, if a republican voter or reporter asked her to explain why did she resign while she was in the
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middle of her term? >> my book explains exactly why i left after all of those frivolous lawsuits and bankrupt our state and my family personally, it was time to let the governor take over the reins and take on with an agenda that we started together. >> erick, and the government doesn't pay for the complaints against the governor and she was inundated and on the brink of bankruptcy. the fact that she's going to answer questions like this all along now, even when she's had a book come out, this is going to weigh on a general election in a way that they wouldn't.
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congresswoman, erick, john, thanks for coming in. a very interesting campaign getting busier by the day. when we come back, the military will soon have a top officer. will that make a difference in afghanistan or libya? and a new york congressman says that his twitter account was hacked by someone sending a lewd photo. why is he not asking for an investigation? that's next. i love that my daughter's part fish.
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welcome back. we're live tonight in gettysburg, pennsylvania. the latest stop on sarah palin's one nation tour. dana bash is here with the news that you need to know. dana? >> thank you, john. the house of representatives comes back tomorrow to vote on raising the u.s. debt ceiling. that's actually the reason that republicans are holding the vote in the first place, to approve raising the debt ceiling like spending cuts can't get through congress. congress will need the support of two-thirds of the members
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present. and in an exclusive on-camera interview with cnn today, anthony weiner denied sending a lewd photo of himself to a 20-year-old college student. blaming it on a hacker. the college student sent a statement admitting that the congressman did follow her on twitter but said there were never any improper exchanges between the two of them and said she never saw the picture which, john, she said she was quickly deleted from weiner's account. this is actually causing a raging war on the internet. conservative blogs doubting his account that this was a hacker and liberals saying that it was a conspiracy, john. >> they will say, come on please, launch an investigation because i was hacked. why hasn't he done that? >> we don't know the answer to that. i actually asked congressman weiner's press secretary about
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that. i didn't get a response. we know from the capital police and the fbi that they are not investigating. congressman weiner's office answer answer to me by saying that he actually hired a lawyer and that lawyer is going to use it to take proper steps to figure out what action should be taken. >> curious there. dana, stay with me. you cover the palin campaign back in 2008. now out on a bus tour, she was asked what she would do if sherp a candidate. what would she do to make the economy better? listen to harsh criticism of president obama. >> big ideas are for big tax cuts to give more of what they are earning and producing and reinvesting in their businesses instead of government taking it and doling out dollars according to the politician's priority.
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that doesn't work. that leads us to our socialism and look at other countries that have based their economy on that socialism. it doesn't work. >> i want a strong economy. that's for doggone sure. >> little hard to here with the cluster but socialism does not work. they spent a lot of time around her in the last campaign and watch her move around now and do they think she's in and this is a slow build up or is she here doing a little rehabilitation? >> brand management. most of them think that they are doing it, john, that she's having a little fun and getting out there in advance of a documentary coming out next month and that it's not likely that she's going to run but they also know that they are not always sure what exactly she's up to. so they wouldn't be surprised at the end of the day if she did. >> she is unpredictable, to say
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the least. thanks. president obama revealed more important changes in the national security team. next, what it could mean for u.s. forces in iraq and afghanistan and helping nato in libya. [ man ] ♪ trouble ♪ trouble, trouble trouble, trouble ♪ ♪ trouble been doggin' my soul ♪ since the day i was born ♪ worry ♪ oh, worry, worry worry, worry ♪ [ announcer ] when it comes to things you care about, leave nothing to chance. travelers. take the scary out of life. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills.
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president obama picked this memorial day to announce some important changes to his national security team. he's nominating general martin dempsey, currently the army chief of staff, to replace the retiring admiral mike mullen as
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the retiring army of joint chiefs. >> between them, they bring deep experience in virtually every domain. land, air, space, sea, cyber. they both have something else. for the first time, the chairman and vice chairman will have the experience of leading combat operations in the years since 2007. >> president obama also nominating general ray odierno. you might remember ray odierno. he's the former commander of u.s. forces in iraq. he will be the new chief of staff. this major overhaul didn't start today. the president's also moving the cia chief, leon panetta, to defense secretary, and bringing the soon to retire general david petraeus home to run the cia. all this shuffling can lead to some big unanswered questions. with us now from washington, cnn national security contributor, fran townsend. she advised president bush and is now on the cia's external advisory board. fran, several of the bush holdovers, defense secretary
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gates and admiral mike mullen, the military's top officer, they will be leaving. now, general petraeus, of course, goes back to the bush administration. general odierno, these other generals have served through democrats and republicans. can you see any particular change in strategy that might come from the change in the team? >> you know, it's interesting, john, because i had the privilege of working both with marty dempsey, the nominee for chairman, and ray odierno, who will be the new army chief. and i will tell you, these are men who have served throughout the war, who understand how we are, where we are, and they also have a familiarity with the leaders and the battle conditions. so, i actually think in many respects that what president obama is doing here is seeking the advice of men who have been out in the field, who can help him execute the strategy he has already articulated. i don't expect big changes here. >> and i want you to listen to the president here. because he talks about his new team, he talks about the battlefield challenges they face, and then listen at the very end. i want to talk about the significance at the very end. >> sure.
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>> general dempsey, admiral winfeld, we have much to do. from bringing our troops home from iraq to beginning to reduce our forces in afghanistan this summer and transitioning to aftghan lead. to fighting with al qaeda and protecting the afghan people, all while making important budget decisions and keeping our military the finest fighting force in the world. >> the last point is interesting, because we are fighting three wars right now. the president says iraq will be almost over soon. afghanistan phaseout will begin soon, we don't know how long that will take. libya's still a big question mark as to how much and how significant the u.s. involvement will be. but as we make budget decisions, while keeping our military the finest fighting force in the world, in this cut spending environment, what do you make -- secretary gates tried to start plowing this ground, and now in leon panetta, not only the former cia director, but also a former top budget official in
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the administration. >> i think it's part of the president's driving force to pick leon panetta. secretary gates ban the budget cut considerations, he was also deeply reluctant to have it go as fast as the president wanted. leon panetta, having the experience with capitol hill that he's going to have to contend with to make these budget cuts in defense, was really quite a smart pick on his part. but this is not going to be easy. and you know, the other interesting thing we haven't talked about, john, is who president obama did not pick for some of these top posts. he did not pick david petraeus to be chairman. david petraeus was recommending to the president, slower drawdowns in afghanistan than the president wanted. he finds himself at cia. he also didn't pick admiral jim stabbritas. he's the guy who pulled together this european coalition, including the french and the british, but he also got passed over. so i think the president is
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looking to, in marty dempsey, and ray odierno, people with tried and true combat experience, but sort of the quiet generals who have got experience, who will advise him, but in executing the strategy that he wants and he sees going forward. >> fran townsend with excellent insights for us, it's going to be interesting going forward, from the big political decisions about afghanistan and iraq. the president could always say, this is bush's holdover defense secretary in bob gates. now he will be gone. this is the president's team completely. now, fran, thanks for coming in tonight. when we come back, we'll reflect on this somber day, memorial day at arlington national cemetery. what do you got? restrained driver... sir, can you hear me? just hold the bag. we need a portable x-ray, please! [ nurse ] i'm a nurse. i believe in the power of science and medicine. but i'm also human.
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because your moment is now. let nothing stand in your way. learn more at keller.edu. in a moment, an anderson cooper special report, "deadly impact." as we leave you, a reminder. a reminder of why we mark memorial day. >> our nation yoowes a debt to s fallen heroes that we can never fully repair. but we can honor their sacrifice and we must. >> i want everyone to realize that these aren't just graves, they aren't just numbers, they're real people. and they have real families. they have wives and husbands and children and parents and siblings. >> we will give their deaths meaning by how we uphold and honor the legacy they have left us. >> their legacy is not in their death, it is

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